Who are you crazy about??

27082012

Back in the swing of school…I just finished my first reading assignment for the new semester: an excerpt from Salome Thomas-El’s book I Choose To Stay. Thomas-El, an education consultant, was a teacher and principal in inner-city Philadelphia for more than 20 years. His website sums up his philosophy: “Every child needs someone to be crazy about them.”

I totally agree. It can completely alter the course of a student’s life to know that someone cares. So when we encounter a kid, no matter who the kid appears to be, we can’t ever just assume that they’ve already found that person…much less that they know who that person is! The responsibility falls on us, then, to make sure that those kids know we’re crazy about them, we believe in them, and we’re rooting for them every step of the way.

I love the way my friend Kenny once described his mentor: “Lorris had a particular way of telling you, ‘I think you’re really neat.’ Even when I broke the rules, and any other camp counselor would have rightly fussed at me, Lorris would come up and put his around me. Instead of a lecture, he’d say something like, ‘Kenny, you know something? I think you’re pretty neat, and so does God.’ And somehow he’d get the point across, too.”

I only got to meet Lorris once, but in the short week I spent with him, he told me several times that he thought I was pretty special. And even though I knew he probably said the same thing to the other 50 campers, his words still left an impression upon my heart.